Men’s basketball starts 0–2

The men’s basketball team participated in the Al Van Wie/Rotary Classic at the College of Wooster on Friday and Saturday. The Tartans played a game on each day, battling the Wooster Fighting Scots on Friday and the Otterbein University Cardinals on Saturday.

The 13th-ranked Fighting Scots proved to a challenging opposition to open regular season play for the Tartans, as the Carnegie Mellon team fell 79–67.

Junior Asad Meghani led the way for the Tartans with his great shooting, scoring 20 points on five of nine shooting from three-point land. Junior guard Rashaun Riley added 11 points on five of nine shooting.

Meghani also tied with the most assists on the night for the Tartans with three, along with junior forward Rob Mohen.

After an abysmal first half, where the Tartans shot just 27.6 percent from the floor, the second half proved to be much better. The Tartans played the Fighting Scots almost even, losing the second half by only four points. But after the cold first half, the Tartans could not get out of the hole they had dug for themselves.

The Fighting Scots shot a blistering 58.2 percent and scored 50 points in the paint, besting the Tartans’ 18 points in the paint.

On Saturday, the Tartans played Otterbein, losing this game 75–58.

Senior guard Andre Moore scored a career-high 22 points on nine of 14 shooting, four of six from three.

Moore filled up the stat sheet, grabbing six rebounds and doling out three assists. Even his defense was on point, racking up four steals on the night.

The only other Tartan who scored in double figures was junior forward Sean Brophy, who had 11 points on three of six shooting.

Yet again, the efficient shooting of the Tartan’s opponent made victory nearly impossible to attain. The Cardinals shot 57.4 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three, while the Tartan’s field goal percentage was just 37.5.

“This weekend didn’t turn out how we expected, but we’re going to bounce back,” Moore said. “I’m extremely confident in our team, and I feel like we have the potential for a promising season. We have all the pieces, we just have to put them together.”